That’s how I read the intent of the author, at least. Getting scientists out of their isolated bubbles and allowing them to actually experience the world drives innovation.
That, or the one physicist who figured it out was so traumatized by merely being outside that she figured it out as quickly as possible to make it all stop, haha.
Fair, I guess I’m just letting the world get to me!
I almost kinda dislike the messaging on this one because it implies authoritarianism is the key to discovery. Scientists are implied to be passive and unindustrious when left alone, so the government (FBI-type characters) declare a truth they want proven, force development of it through the threat of violence, and it eventually yields an answer they’re happy with.
I’m reminded of the film The Death of Stalin and it’s depiction of the USSR’s treatment of bourgeois intellectuals like doctors.
O.G. San is such a good name.